GBOYH Verse: Tarnished Diamonds
by Kendell
Summary: Sequel to Getting Back On Your Hooves. Not only did Diamond Tiara see a pony she admired fall from grace, she witnessed something far worse. Her potential future self. The monster she could be if nothing changed. Can Diamond Tiara change the winds of fate and alter her future? Or will the nightmare the monstrous Checker Monarch unleashed be repeated?
1. To Look in the Mirror

Hello everyone, time for another installment in the GBOYH Verse! Today, I set out to give a redemption story to a certain spoiled rotten brat like I did to Trixie. I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

**GBOYHverse: Tarnished Diamonds**

**Chapter 1**

**To Look in The Mirror**

**By Godzillawolf**

"Hehe...wonderful isn't it, Silver Spoon?"

"Yes Diamond..."

Diamond Tiara watched the scene before her with a smug, cruel smirk as Applebloom stomped up to her.

"You...you...you…" the yellow Earth Pony's face was the picture of despair and rage.

"_I_ did something?" asked Diamond, feigning innocence so perfectly that she'd have fooled Applebloom if the farm pony didn't know any better. "Whatever makes you say that?"

"Because yah told meh yah'd do this!"

"Can you _prove_ I did?"

Applebloom was taken back. "Well...Ah...Ah…"

"Just like you were able to 'prove' that I was the one who called you blank flanks all the time? Or that I was the one who convinced you Granny Smith was an embarrassing screw up? Daddy punished me for insulting her in class, you had nothing to do with it."

The Earth Pony lowered her ears.

"Face it, what have you _ever_ been able to prove I did, blank flank?"

"...N-Nothin'…"

"And do you have any more proof than you ever had before?"

"...No…"

"Is anything different than any of the _other_ times we've been through this?"

"...N-No…"

"Then it's just my word versus yours," the tiara wearing Earth Pony replied in a sing song voice. "But go ahead, tell them mean old Diamond Tiara's big plan is to ruin an innocent family's lives'."

Diamond smirked cruelly, the pink mare looking over Applebloom's shoulder to see the Apple Family sitting crying outside of their boarded up, run down farm. Applebloom's foals were bawling their eyes out. What were their names? Diamond didn't know and didn't care. All she cared about was making sure they were out of earshot.

"And then you know what I'll do? I'll act the part of the wounded mare who's been accused of such horrible things on false grounds. Because guess what, Applebloom? You have no proof! You'd be right, but who's going to believe the dumb, dirt poor farmer over the rich, powerful business mare?"

"Well...well…"

"That's right, no pony. All you'll do is let me sue the Cutie Mark off you...if you'd ever earned one."

Applebloom growled. The adult blank flank barely held herself back from pouncing on Diamond.

"Now get out of my face before I have you arrested for trespassing on _my_ property," the business mare spat.

"...Ah shoulda known you'd do this after how you ruined your folks…"

"You say ruined, I say 'took over the company in a hostile takeover,'" she said as Applebloom had to trot off, heading down to her ruined family. Diamond just laughed cruelly. "Wasn't that fun, Silver?"

"Y-Yes, Diamond…" the silver mare stuttered, trembling next to her 'friend' in terror.

Diamond turned to her with a menacing glare. "That didn't sound like you're having fun."

"S-sorry…"

"You'd better try again, this time with spirit. Or would you rather I rethink my company's deal with your daddy's business?"

Silver's eyes shrank to pinpricks. "No! It was fun! Look at how wide I'm smiling!" she said, forcing the widest smile she could manage.

"That's better...and don't call me Diamond, call me Miss Tiara, got it?"

"Y-Yes D-Diamond-I mean Miss Tiara!"

Diamond smirked, the cruel mare turning back to the ruined farm. "Now, I think it's time to start redoing the place. Are the Flim Flam Brothers on their way?"

"Y-Yes, Miss Tiara…"

"And Scootaloo and Sweetie?"

"...They're being arrested on false charges as we speak."

"Good. Anything else?"

"Y-Your parents sent another letter a-asking for help, M-Miss Tiara...it appears your mother is...getting sick again…"

"Politely write back and tell them to spend the money they're using to send the letters on more important things. If they have money for that, they've got no business bothering me."

"Y-Yes Miss Tiara."

* * *

"NO!" yelled Diamond, eyes snapping open.

She laid in the dark, panting heavily in a cold sweat, staring into Luna's night, her body trembling in terror.

The Earth Pony finally fumbled for the light and managed to pull the cord on the magic empowered lamp next to her bed with her teeth.

Diamond untangled herself from her covers and looked herself over from head to hoof, feeling herself. Still a filly.

She looked around the room. Mounds of stuffed animals. The most cutting edge video games she could think of to ask her parents for. A Power Ponies poster on the ceiling. A dozen pictures of herself in various poses. A few of her parents and Silver Spoon...all with the self-centered filly in them.

Diamond Tiara galloped to the huge vanity mirror in her room and looked at herself. Mane style still the same. Eyes still the same. No business suit. Just plain old Diamond Tiara.

She gave a sigh of relief. "T-Thank Cadence...it was just a nightmare…"

The foal gave a shaky grin...then for a moment, she swore the image in the mirror turned into a blue unicorn mare with a white mane giving a sadistic smirk back her way.

Diamond gave a cry of fright and fell out of the chair, hitting her head on the floor. "Ow…" she muttered, rubbing her head. She groaned, getting back to her hooves and looking back in the mirror with a child's fear. "J-Just a normal mirror, Diamond Tiara...calm down…You're just seeing things. Relax…"

The filly examined herself in her vanity mirror. She touched a hoof to the bags forming under one of her eyes. When was the last time she'd slept well?

_"Good job, you really are a lot like I was when I was a kid. Keep up the good work. Some day you might be just like me."_

Diamond shuddered. She held a hoof to her stomach as it clinched up just thinking about those words. "...Why do I keep feeling sick? Momma and daddy took me to the doctor, they said I was fine! So why do I keep feeling like this?" she asked in frustration. The spoiled foal gave a growl at the thought of not having control over her own body.

Then her eyes fell on a group picture of herself, Silver, and both their parents.

The filly trotted over to it and looked at it with a frown.

_"Y-Your parents sent another letter a-asking for help, M-Miss Tiara...it appears your mother is...getting sick again…"_

_"Politely write back and tell them to spend the money they're using to send the letters on more important things. If they have money for that, they've got no business bothering me."_

_"Y-Yes Miss Tiara."_

Diamond Tiara shuddered as what she'd realized that day came back full force. "I...I don't want to do that to them...I don't want to do…"

"_Checker, how could you do this to your own sister?!"_

"_My sister? Do you think that really matters? You don't get it, do you?! The strong rule the weak! I can manipulate everypony else as easy as breathing! That means I'm the strongest! That makes you and everypony else the weak. And that means you are all just my pawns to do with as I please whenever I feel like it!"_

The filly hugged the picture to her chest, fear induced tears starting down her face. "I...I don't want to be like...like her…"

She realized what she was doing and shook her head. "C-Come on Diamond, this isn't like you. You're a confident, strong, and composed young mare!" she stated, taking a smug pose. "You just...need to figure out what it was that she saw in you that was like her and then do away with it! That's all!...Now, what did she say that about?"

She put her hoof to her chin and thought back hard to that day...the moment she'd ended up seeing her potential future. When she remembered, her eyes went wide.

"She saw me making fun of the blank flanks and their loser dragon friend?!" the schoolyard bully asked in disbelief and a bit anger. Not at anyone in specific but at whatever cruel cosmic force had gotten the bright idea to play a joke on her. "Come on! That...that can't be it, can it?"

She thought about the situation in as much detail as her young mind could manage. "Oh! There was...no, I hadn't done that yet...There was...no, I'd done that in my house...what about-No, Miss Monarch was backstage by then…"

The little filly wracked her brain, looking for any possible thing the insidious mare could've seen in her. But she kept coming back to one thing. The thing she'd spent every moment from that day till now trying to avoid admitting to herself but now, sleep deprived and terrified, could not deny. She gave a bitter, angry, annoyed sigh...then groaned, holding her stomach, the sick feeling getting worse as she thought about that moment.

"...Ugh...Okay, let's think about this...she saw me picking on them and told me I reminded her of herself as a foal...that is literally the only thing I did other than walking…"

The bully then blinked, it occurring to her how much of her life seemed to revolve around making those three fillies as miserable as she possibly could...she found her ears pin for some reason and the sick feeling getting so bad she was tempted to run to the bathroom just to be on the safe side.

"...So that means all I've got to do to not become like…her is…" the pink filly pinned her ears and gave a growl ."Stop...stop...stop teasing...the...theblankflanks!" she spat out finally, gagging on her words. The thought of being being nice to those blank flanks made her sick to her stomach...well, sicker. "That's what she said made me like her, right? So I'll just stop doing it…Y-Yeah! I don't have to be nice, I just have to not be mean! I can do that...right?"

She got back to the mirror and stared into it. "It'll be easy. I don't need to make fun of them. I can quit whenever I want, right?" she asked, giving a nervous smile that just barely convinced herself.

"Right! From this moment forth, Diamond Tiara will never pick on the blank flanks again!"

* * *

Pinkie suddenly shot out of her bed on the other side of Ponyville, her Pinkie Sense going crazy for a moment. Gummy looked up at her as she landed back on her bed and blinked. "My Pinkie Sense is tingling. I sense a disturbance in the status quo, as if, if this were an episode, every bronies' jaws would have just dropped in disbelief…"

Gummy blinked twice.

"...Yeah, you're right, Gummy! Probably just Trixie being our friend now! Goodnight!"

* * *

Diamond then blinked, staring into the mirror in confusion as the weight of what she said just and thought about doing. "...I can't believe I just said that! Those three miserable little pains in my mane get off way too easy if I stop reminding them they're-" he gaze returned to the picture of her family and friend. "...I-I'll do it...For daddy, momma, and Silver…And only for them! Certainly not for the _blank flanks!_"

The foal looked out the window at the sky. "You'd better be grateful universe! You owe me for making me do this! Do you hear me?!" she yelled, shaking a hoof.

She jumped as a lightning bolt lit up the sky and thunder boomed. "Sorry! I didn't mean it!" she yelled and pulled her head back into the room, slamming the window shut.

* * *

Derpy blinked, having simply been jumping on a nearby cloud to get all the lightning out of it and burn off a late night energy burst. "...Did somepony say something?"

* * *

Diamond curled back up under her covers. "You can do this, Diamond Tiara. You just need to never, ever say a mean word about Applebloom and those los-those friends of hers ever again. Then you'll never turn into...her. How hard can that be?...Ugh...and why won't this weird stomach ache go away?"

* * *

"Are you doing well today, Golden?" asked Filthy Rich, sitting at their breakfast table bigger than some pony's entire dining rooms with his family, looking up from his newspaper.

"Much better, dear," replied Diamond's mother, the Earth Pony mare very similar in coloration to her daughter, only with longer, curlier hair. The mare had a rather muscular physique to her, and currently wore nothing. "The doctors say I'm almost completely recovered from my...illness."

Filthy gave a warm smile. "I'm very glad to hear that."

"So am I...Princess, are you okay?" the mare asked in a concerned tone, taking notice of their daughter.

Diamond looked up from her stack of potato pancakes and waffles, made with herbs she knew most ponies couldn't afford even if they knew what they were and covered with syrup, whip cream, and butter, and soy omelets made with imported cheese. She had hardly touched it.

"Oh! I'm fine momma! I just had some bad nightmares last night…"

Golden Tiara frowned. "Do you want to talk about it, honey?"

Diamond looked at her mother, who was now looking at her in concern.

"Are you alright?" Filthy Rich asked his daughter, lowering the newspaper he held between his fetlocks and giving his daughter his full attention.

Diamond blinked, finding herself in a position she was normally all too happy to be in. The center of attention.

She looked back and forth nervously for a moment…then did what she did best.

"...I...I had a nightmare that you lost everything…" she whimpered, pinning her ears and giving puppydog eyes.

Her mother hugged her. "Oh Diamond, it's okay. You don't have to worry about that, right Filthy?" the older mare asked.

Mr. Rich gave his wife a smile and nodded, getting up from his chair and trotting over to give his little princess a hug. "That's right, Golden. We've got plenty of money and Rich's Barnyard Bargains isn't in any danger of going out of business any time soon."

Diamond smiled and nuzzled her parents. "Y-Yeah...that's what I was afraid of...thank you momma, thank you daddy."

"Anything for our little princess," Golden replied, releasing her filly.

Mr. Rich nodded. "Now, we can talk business later, eat your breakfast, Diamond Tiara. You don't want to be late for school."

Diamond's eyes shrunk to pinpricks. "Right...school…" she said, returning to her meal halfheartedly. "...and the blank flanks…" she muttered giving a gulp.

* * *

Diamond slowly trotted towards the school. As slowly as possible without being late. For once the little foal was glad her father had decided she 'needed some exercise' and had her walk instead of taking the family carriage.

"It'll be fine, Diamond, just find a seat away from the blank flanks, then you won't have a chance to pick on them, then you don't have to worry about becoming like...her," Diamond muttered to herself, feeling her stomach tighten. "Right? Right."

"Scootaloo! Slow down!"

Diamond blinked, turning and looking behind her. "Oh come on!"

"We'll be late if I slow down, Sweetie!"

Diamond yelped, jumping out of the way of the almost out of control wagon pulled by an orange pegasus on a scooter.

Which promptly skidded to a stop. "Sorry!" Sweetie Belle yelled.

Scootaloo gave a look. "Why are you apologizing? It's Diamond Tiara!"

"Do you WISH we'd hit her?" the little unicorn asked narrowing her eyes.

Scootaloo opened her mouth...then sighed. Bully or not, she was still a pony. "...No…sorry…"

Applebloom looked to Diamond. "Are yah okay Diamond?"

"No! Of course I'm not you stu-" Diamond started yelling...then her insult came to a screeching halt and she looked a little sick. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dirty…" she said, smiling nervously and dusting herself off. "That's all."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had a collective jaw drop and looked at each other. "Uh...a-are sure you're okay?" asked Sweetie Belle, staring wide eyed.

"Yeah, of course I am," Diamond muttered, eyes darting around then pointing. "Hey! Look! Cloud Gremlins!"

The CMC looked in the direction as Diamond ran off towards the school.

"Hey!" yelled Rainbow Dash, flying up to a dark cloud with two red, pointed eared monsters with flight jackets on it. She gave a frustrated sigh. "You guys again? Alright, this time, I'm just getting my friends to zap you BEFORE you make your stupid big cloud of-"

"Ahh! The rainbow maned one again! Run!" one of the Gremlins yelled as both screamed like little fillies, took their cloud, and ran for the hills. "You said she was on vacation!"

Rainbow just blinked in confusion. "Uh...yeah! You better run!"

"Good job Rainbow!" Scootaloo exclaimed happily.

"Thanks Scoots!" the rainbow maned pegasus called back and flew off.

Sweetie blinked, looking back to where Diamond was standing. "Hey! She ran off!"

"So?" Scootaloo asked. "Shouldn't we be happy about that?"

"Yeah...but...she didn't even call us Blank Flanks!" the little unicorn gasped.

Her friends both mimicked her gasp.

"She's right!" the CMC's Earth Pony exclaimed. "Do yah think she's sick?"

"Nah, she's probably just plotting something," Scootaloo replied, the orange pegasus looking around just in case. "Like she always is. Silver Spoon's probably waiting somewhere to see us fall for it or something."

"...Yeah, probably…" Sweetie admitted, giving a confused look at where the filly was standing. "I'm just a little...weirded out."

"Yeah, I think we all are," Scootaloo replied, rubbing her head. She gave a shrug. "Ah well, probably just her daddy threatening to take away her fancy toys or something. Come on, we've got to get to class."

* * *

Diamond panted, skidding to a stop at the door to the little school house. "O-Okay, we're here…"

She walked into the room…and realized the only other pony there was Cheerilee. "Oh, hello Diamond Tiara. You're early," the teacher said, giving a smile.

Diamond looked around, coat drenched in sweat. She realized this was a first. She had never been here first. She'd only been here…without Silver Spoon when Silver was sick. The rich filly felt strangely naked. "Uh…yeah…" she said, forcing a smile. "Just wanted to get a head start for a change!"

Cheerilee smiled. "That's very impressive of you, Diamond. I'm proud."

The Earth Pony filly took a seat in the empty classroom…and sat alone with her own troubled mind.

* * *

And so it begins! I hope you enjoy this story! May we have another awesome ride!


	2. The Masks We Wear

_Sometime earlier_

"Silver Spoon! Rise and shine!" barked a stallion's voice.

The silver Earth Pony blinked awake, the world around her an unfocused blur. Her hooves followed the daily activity repetition had ingrained in their muscle memory and carefully picked up the little (and quite expensive) piece of blue plastic and glass that enabled her to see the world clearly between them.

Her hooves slipped and fumbled them. The little foal fearfully managed to catch them and gave a sigh of relief. Silver Spoon carefully put them on her muzzle, adjusting them until she could see her room in detail. Piles of stuffed animals and fancy dolls came into focus. She crawled out from under the big fluffy blanket and stretched with a yawn.

Silver Spoon trotted over to her vanity mirror and looked herself over; her long mane hanging down and the tired, unassuming expression on her face looking back at her. She looked almost like any other filly.

With some difficulty, the Earth Pony got her mane into its typical ponytail using her hooves and slipped the circle of pearls she wore around her neck.

It took all but a second to for the tired filly to don a cheerful, sweet expression that could make one mistake her for a relative of Ponyville's resident party pony.

She chuckled at herself for a moment before turning and heading down the long hallway to the dining room.

"Good morning, sweetheart," said the refined voice of a Pegasus seated at the long dining room table. The mare was almost identical in color to her young daughter, but had a navy blue mane in place of her white one. She wore an expensive looking blue dress with gold highlights that hid her Cutie Mark, and fancy styled glasses of the same color.

Silver Spoon gave a cute curtsy. "Hello, mother," she said with a sweet but refined tone.

A muscular, dark gray Unicorn sat at the other end of the table, his mane color matching that of Silver Spoon's, but in a flat top style. He currently wore nothing, allowing his Cutie Mark (a silver bullet racing through the air) to be seen in full, but a set of golden Royal Guard armor sat on a stand behind him, several medals hanging on it. "Sleep well, Spoon?" he asked in a gruff voice but with a warm smile.

Silver effortlessly saluted her father with an obedient, but strangely cute expression and picture perfect posture closer to a soldier than a lady. "Yes sir!"

Lieutenant Silver Bullet chuckled and ruffled his daughter's mane. "Glad to hear it."

An elderly unicorn maid floated food onto the table as the little Earth Pony took her seat and prepared to dig into her breakfast: soy eggs, toast with top grade butter and imported jam, and two glasses, one filled with ice cold milk and the other with orange juice bought directly from the Orange Family in Manehatten.

"Remember your manners, Silver Spoon," her mother, Silver Wing reminded.

"Yes mother," she said politely, carefully and gingerly beginning to eat her soy eggs.

"Don't forget to drink your milk, Spoon. It builds strong bones."

"Yes daddy," the silver filly replied in an obedient tone, taking the milk between her hooves and drinking it down.

"Slower Silver Spoon, a lady doesn't slurp," her mother reminded.

"Yes mother," Silver replied sweetly, slowing down without missing a beat or losing the cheerful smile she'd kept since she woke up.

* * *

"Remember, Spoon, be careful on the way to school, alright?" asked Silver Bullet asked, now in full armor.

She gave a salute to her father. "Yes, sir!"

He gave a chuckle and hugged her. "Alright, have a good day," the stallion said, teleporting away.

"You will be careful, won't you dear?" asked Silver Wing, giving a worried look to her child.

Silver nodded, giving a mature smile. "Yes, mother, I will be very careful," she said in a lady-like tone.

Her mother gave her a nuzzle. "Alright, Silver Spoon, I love you."

"I love you too mother."

The pegasus flew off to her room in the house to do her job (all Silver Spoon understood of it was it involved lots and lots of paper work) and the little foal put on her saddle bags and started to school, still maintaining the cheerful expression.

* * *

Diamond Tiara sat in her seat, eyes searching the room for any distraction (instead of on the book she had resting between her forelegs to support her alibi) as she waited for somepony else to come other than Cheerilee. The teacher wasn't somepony the bully was used to talking to except for the cases when somepony caught her, trying to sound smart or...or manipulating her against the Crusaders. She wasn't really somepony Diamond talked to except when it suited her. She normally just listened enough to get by and that was that.

So she just sat there, stuck with her own thoughts and her own confusion. Her eyes kept wandering back to the Crusader's normal seats. 'Please let Silver be the first one here...'

The last thing the foal wanted was to be stuck in the same room with those three blank fl-brats for however long it was until class started.

Thankfully, it was that yellow pegasus foal with a purple mane and feather Cutie Mark that came in first, so at least she wouldn't be alone.

The foal blinked, eyes going across the room and finding only Diamond there. She just stood there for a moment, staring in confusion and uncertainty.

"Alula?" asked Cheerilee, looking at the filly. "Is something wrong?"

The little filly jumped slightly. "Oh! N-Nothing..." she said, and quietly took a seat in the back of the class.

Diamond gave a small sigh of relief. Sure, she had no idea who that foal was, but at least she wasn't going to be alone with those three when they showed up. If push came to shove she could have some small talk with Alula and distract herself and the Crusaders.

'So long as they don't do anything humiliating, you'll be fine, Diamond Tiara,' the pink Earth Pony thought. 'Just wait for Silver to get here and just talk to her for the rest of the school day. Simple.'

"Uh, Miss Cheerilee?"

'Oh come on!'

"Girls? What happened?"

Diamond turned to see the three blank flanks standing at the door...covered in tree sap to the point of being stuck together.

Diamond's eye twitched as her mind filled with a number of insults and teasing ideas and demanded she make them first opportunity.

"We were in a rush to get here and...kinda ended up in a tree," Scootaloo said in an embarrassed tone.

Cheerilee gave an exasperated sigh. "Again?"

Diamond's other eye began to twitch.

"You weren't watching where you were going!" Sweetie Belle complained, trying to pull herself off of her friends.

"Applebloom distracted me!"

"Hey! Ah didn't know there'd be a rock right there!"

"Good thing Derpy was there to get us out of the tree..."

Diamond started to sweat heavily.

"Alright, should we try to get you three washed off before class starts?" their teacher asked politely, leading the trio towards the bathroom.

As soon as they were out of the room, Diamond slammed her head into the desk in front of her with a thud that made Alula jump. "Maybe this will be harder than I thought..." she muttered.

* * *

Silver Spoon finally trotted up to the door of the school house and took a second to focus. The cheerful expression receded, becoming the smug, high and mighty smirk she'd become so well known for to her and Diamond's regular victims.

The silver filly walked in, now carrying herself with an air of 'I'm better than you' and her eyes fell on Diamond Tiara, who sat nervously at her desk and gave a relieved sigh when she saw her.

"Hey Silver Spoon, boy am I glad to see you," the pink bully said as her cohort sat down in the seat next to her.

Silver Spoon blinked. "What happened?"

"Just been having a bad day, that's all," Diamond replied simply. "I needed a distraction."

"The Blank Flanks causing you trouble again?" Silver asked, with practiced venom.

"Something like that..." Diamond replied, giving a perfectly fake smile that Silver didn't question. "But let's not talk about them right now."

Silver Spoon gave a confused blink. "Huh?"

Diamond then realized how much of the dialog between her and Silver since her cute-ceañera revolved around planning some plot against the Crusaders.

"We have better things to do than just tease those losers."

"We do?"

"Of course we do! Didn't I just say so?"

"Oh, right, of course," Silver chimed in, not missing a beat or letting her inner confusion show. "So...what do we talk about?"

"...How are your parents' doing?"

"They're doing great. Daddy just got promoted to Lieutenant."

Diamond Tiara blinked. "Your daddy's is in the guard?"

Silver nodded. "Yeah, a really good one," she said, genuine respect in her tone.

The pink filly just started for a moment. How had she not noticed that?

She was also surprised to see Silver Spoon's admiration for her father. Diamond had begun to believe that Silver didn't think of anything except helping her bully the CMC.

"Oh...that's good," the tiara wearing bully replied.

"Yeah."

"...My daddy's doing well and momma...she's back."

"That's really good Diamond," Silver Spoon said sincerely. "I'm glad your momma got better, Diamond Tiara."

"Thank you..."

"Alright, my little ponies," said Cheerilee, walking the now cleaned up Crusaders into the room and directing them to their seats as the rest of the foals finished trotting in and taking their seats.

Diamond turned back to watching the teacher, grateful for a distraction.

Silver Spoon slipped on her cheerful smile and kept her eyes directed at the teacher, looking the part of an eager student.

Cheerilee took a piece of chalk in her mouth and began writing on the board, drawing a diagram of the three types of pony, as well as a spectral horse. She spat out a little chalk dust as she put the chalk down. "Alright class, today we will be going over a little more Equestrian history. Show of hooves, who has seen a Hearth's Warming Eve play?"

The Crusaders raised their hooves, as did several other foals. Diamond and Silver's hooves remained down. The pink filly recalled that had been while her mother had been recovering from her illness. Her father had said that the recovering mare wasn't in a condition to travel so going to a play hadn't yet been an option. She knew the basic idea: evil monsters came after the three tribes because they didn't get along, hatred is bad. That's all she really knew.

She noticed Twist didn't raise her hoof either. Diamond didn't know or care why she wasn't. She was pretty sure Button Mash was sneaking time on one of those video games. How did his parents afford those?

"We saw it in Canterlot with Rainbow Dash and her friends!" Scootaloo announced cheerfully.

"Alright then, Applebloom, would you, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo explain since you saw it so everypony is on the same page?"

"Sure Miss Cheerilee!" announced all three Crusaders at once.

Diamond Tiara ground her teeth as the trio began to speak.

"A long time ago, the three tribes didn't get along! The Earth Ponies made all the food. The Pegasi made the weather. And the unicorns raised the sun and moon," Applebloom explained in a cheerful but simple and to the point tone.

"Isn't that what they do now?" asked a foal behind Diamond. She wasn't sure who spoke up, but didn't really care.

"But then, a massive blizzard started!" announced Scootaloo in a tone akin to a movie trailer voice over. "There was no food, the pegasi couldn't control the weather, and they were all at each others' throats."

Diamond struggled not to laugh out loud at the over the top fashion the pegasus foal spoke in.

"The beautiful leader of the unicorn tribe, Princess Platinum, who was played by my big sister Rarity in the Canterlot production," Sweetie Belle started in a lofty, more classical sounding tone. Diamond's blood began to boil as Sweetie Belle got some impressed looks from other foals. "The brave leader of the Pegasi, Commander Hurricane-"

"Who was played by Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo chimed in, her fanfillly mindset clear in her tone.

"And the...eccentric leader of the Earth Ponies, Chancellor Puddinghead, came together for a vital assemblage to determine the best resolution to this horrible calamity," the unicorn filly continued, keeping up the over the top purple prose tone she was trying to use.

Diamond Tiara was tempted to call her a living dictionary, but bit her tongue. Literally.

"But they were just too stubborn and hateful tah get anythin' done," Applebloom continued in her down to earth way. "So they all decided tah move tah somewhere else tah get away from the blizzard."

"But when they got to a new land, they found the other tribes there as well," Scootaloo narrated dramatically. "And soon the blizzard followed them."

"The bewildered and freezing leaders and their noble assistants, Princess Platinum's bright and brilliant assistant Clover the Clever, Commander Hurricane's timid but dutiful subordinate Private Pansy, and Chancellor Puddinghead's honest and faithful secretary Smart Cookie."

"Who was played by mah big sister Applejack!" announced Applebloom with a wide smile.

Diamond Tiara snarled in rage at the impressed foals looking at the Crusaders.

"But it turned out that the cause of the winter was nasty monsters called Windigos," the yellow Earth Pony foal continued in her bare-bones tone. "They were feedin' off their hate tah grow stronger and freeze the whole world."

"But then the three assistants became friends, and their friendship did the impossible!" announced Scootaloo spectacularly. "It lit a fire that burned the Windigos away and saved everypony!"

"And the three tribes finally, at long last, after many trials, put aside that which stood between them and united together as one," Sweetie continued.

"And that's how Equestria was made!" announced all three as one, using that uncanny speed they seemed to have to come into a pyramid, Sweetie and Applebloom on the bottom, Scootaloo on top. Diamond's wondered if they were _trying_ to overshadow her. Or if the universe just hated her.

Cheerilee smiled as the class clopped their hooves in approval...except a certain pink filly who was attempting not to blow a blood vessel from sheer jealousy and a silver one who eagerly awaited the pink one's plans. "Good job girls. Now, let us continue..."

* * *

Diamond was relieved when the lesson was over and recess began. The filly didn't know what it was, but the lesson about fighting between the three tribes and irrational hatred strangely seemed to make that sick feeling in her stomach return.

And what made it worse was that not only had the Crusaders been called to talk in front of the class and impressed them, but they'd been called to talk about something Diamond _didn't_ know well! Something she had no way of overshadowing them with!

Diamond's brain screamed at her to find the trio, call them blank flanks, and then subtly manipulate them in such a way as to end in their humiliation. To rip them apart with her words however she could.

"Can you believe them?!" Diamond found herself asking out-load. "Those attention hogging blank flanks!"

Diamond found her plotting interrupted when the sick feeling returned, along with memory of her resolution the night before.

"I know, Diamond. Should we go pay the blank flanks a visit?" Silver Spoon asked, saying the word blank flanks with a practiced mocking tone.

The pink filly put a hoof to her stomach.

"...Nah. Not right now."

Silver blinked, cocking her head in confusion. "Are you feeling okay, Diamond?"

Diamond nodded. "Yeah! It's just picking on them is getting dull. Did you ever notice it's all we ever do?"

Silver Spoon blinked, putting a hoof to her chin. "...Kinda..."

"So come on, let's do something we haven't done in a long time, alright?" the pink filly asked with her typical confident air.

Silver just nodded. "Okay...what?"

Diamond actually had to pause. What hadn't they done in a long time? She tried to think back to before they'd made their primary pass time the torment of three foals.

Her eyes fell on a teeter totter that she'd honestly forgotten the last time she'd actually gone near. But she remembered back when she and Silver were blank flanks themselves (a truly dark time in Diamond's remembrance) and it was one of her favorite activities. "Let's go take a ride on the teeter totter."

Silver didn't object, and the two fillies trotted over and took their positions.

To Diamond Tiara's surprise, she actually found herself smiling from the simple act of going up and down. Silver seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit as well.

Diamond had to begrudgingly admit how long it'd been since she and Silver had actually played like normal foals without thinking about the Crusaders or plotting something cruel to do to them. Sure, she and Silver Spoon hung out. They'd eat together; sometimes have parties at her house together (typically with a group of foals that jealously watched them enjoy themselves). But they hadn't really played much since they'd started picking on the blank flanks.

After awhile, the two of them got off and Silver seemed rather upbeat and in high spirits. Diamond honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Silver with that cheerful smile instead of the smug one Silver and herself normally wore. Diamond found herself smiling a bit, but couldn't help still feeling her anger and jealousy nagging at the back of her mind.

"That was fun," Diamond admitted, giving her friend a smile.

The silver Earth Pony filly nodded. "Totally. That was a good idea Diamond."

"Of course it was, I always have good ide-oof!"

Diamond looked up to see Applebloom had collided with her, a rubber ball following seconds later and hitting the pink filly on the head. "Ow! Get off me!"

"Oops! Sorry Diamond Tiara," Applebloom said, quickly getting off the foal.

Diamond got back to her hooves and noticed something was off. She gasped and felt her head, finding something was missing. She looked around, finding her namesake had been knocked off in the impact. Quickly putting it back a top her prim and proper mane, she turned to Applebloom and the other Crusaders with a snarl, pint up jealousy and anger surging to the surface. "Watch where you're going next time, blank flanks!" she spat back.

Silver nodded. "Yeah, trying to earn a 'Not Looking Where I'm Going' Cutie Mark?" she spat with a mocking tone the Crusaders knew all too well.

Diamond prepared to give some more venom laced words, filled with vindictive satisfaction as she noted the hurt the bullies' words earned on their victim's faces. The relief of the pint of jealousy and anger she'd been feeling. It made her give the cruel smirk the Crusaders remembered.

...Then an image of Checker Monarch flashed in her mind again.

The filly almost doubled over from her stomach doing back-flips, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Silver actually gasped in concern as she'd been preparing for her and Diamond's traditional hoofshake. "Diamond? Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, just something...I ugh...ate..." she muttered, then decided to roll with it. "I...I'm going to go to the bathroom to be on the safe side..."

With that, the pink filly galloped to the little filly's room, Silver following not far behind, leaving the CMC standing in confusion. Once she was safely inside (Silver Spoon safely on the other side, waiting for her), Diamond gave a worried look in the mirror. "This...might be harder than I thought..."


End file.
